27. The Phase I Archeological Research Program for
the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, Part IV:
Interpretation of the Archeological Record.
Thiessen, Thomas D.
Editor

In 1974, the Congress of the United States authorized the establishment of
the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in Mercer County,
North Dakota, to preserve archeological vestiges of the Hidatsa and Mandan
Indians and to commemorate the cultural history and lifeways of those
important native peoples of the Northern Plains. Starting in 1976, the
National Park Service undertook an extensive program of archeological and
ethnohistorical research designed to illuminate the archeological and
historical resources of the newly-authorized park. This research, which
was termed the Phase I research program for the park, was cooperatively
carried out by the Service's Midwest Archeological Center and the Department
of Anthropology of the University of North Dakota, as well as by
researchers at other academic institutions in the United States, most
notably the Department of Anthropology of the University of
Missouri-Colombia.

This volume of the Midwest Archeological Center's Occasional Studies in Anthropology series reports the results of that decade-long research
program. It is issued in four parts, each of which deals with a particular
aspect of the research. Part I (Chapters 1-10) describes the overall
program in general, particularly emphasizing the objectives and methodology
employed in the research. Part II (Chapters 11-16) recapitulates a series
of ethnohistorical studies that complements the archeological research and
provides an ethnohistorical backdrop against which the archeological record
of Hidatsa culture change can be interpreted. Part III (Chapters 17-21)
summarizes the analysis of various classes of material remains recovered
during the research program, principally the pottery, lithics, modified and
unmodified fauna, and Euroamerican trade goods. Part IV (Chapters 22-27)
broadly interprets the park's archeological record and offers a revised
culture-historic taxonomy for what is proposed as the Knife region of the
Middle Missouri subarea.

Most of the chapters contained in this volume were completed circa
1985-1986. Some effort has been made to update aspects of the data and
conclusions offered in them by referencing certain key published and
unpublished studies which have appeared since that time, but the lack of
time and funds has precluded a comprehensive revision of the entire corpus
of papers contained herein. Nevertheless, it is believed that this summary
of the Knife River Indian Villages Phase I research program will be of
substantial interest to Plains scholars and considerable utility in telling
the story of the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians to the public.

Due to the sensitive nature
of this subject this report is
available to professional
archeologists only. If you
order this manuscript we may
contact you for verification of
your profession.